Do I need a new case for Dell XPS 8300?

I have a Dell XPS 8300 with an i7 and AMD 6770. I'm wanting to significantly upgrade my GPU and I know that I'll need to also get a new PSU. My question is should I buy a new case?

I feel a little silly buying a new case for a prebuilt system but I'm a little worried about temps. Obviously the AMD 6770 is just the generic reference card and was running near 85C while gaming until I created a custom MSI profile to kick the fans in harder (the didn't run very hard originally). My i7 is around 39C idle and around 62C while gaming (probably the most stressful thing the CPU will ever have to do).

There is only one case fan and it's in the back. There is a vent in the front and I could probably rig a fan in there if I needed. Are my current temps normal for those components? If so, should I keep the case and just buy a card with a really nice fan/heat sink on it (like a Twin Frozr or something)? If you think it's not silly to purchase a new case, do you recommend one? If I go the new case route, I'll probably purchase a new mobo and second card to match my new one (whatever I wind up getting) in a year or so, so that's also a consideration.

I have a Dell XPS 8300 with an i7 and AMD 6770. I'm wanting to significantly upgrade my GPU and I know that I'll need to also get a new PSU. My question is should I buy a new case?

I feel a little silly buying a new case for a prebuilt system but I'm a little worried about temps. Obviously the AMD 6770 is just the generic reference card and was running near 85C while gaming until I created a custom MSI profile to kick the fans in harder (the didn't run very hard originally). My i7 is around 39C idle and around 62C while gaming (probably the most stressful thing the CPU will ever have to do).

There is only one case fan and it's in the back. There is a vent in the front and I could probably rig a fan in there if I needed. Are my current temps normal for those components? If so, should I keep the case and just buy a card with a really nice fan/heat sink on it (like a Twin Frozr or something)? If you think it's not silly to purchase a new case, do you recommend one? If I go the new case route, I'll probably purchase a new mobo and second card to match my new one (whatever I wind up getting) in a year or so, so that's also a consideration.

Thanks!

I don't see a need to change out your case. I had a Dell XPS 7100 (which is the exact same case), and mine came with a Radeon HD 5770, and an AMD Phenom II x6 1090T. I had the 460 watt stock PSU, but I wanted to upgrade to a Radeon HD 6950 (which had just came out). My case also only had the one stock fan, and the stock AMD heatsink/cooler.

I removed the 460 watt PSU and replaced it with a Corsair TX 650 watt and it fit like a glove. The card also fit in with about 2" to spare.

My temps before were maybe 4-5 degrees cooler on the XPS with the 5770, but nothing significant at all. The XFX card I added was a twin fan model 6950- so that might have helped (I think you have a good idea about getting the MSI twin frozr card). The [stock] Phenom II x6 1090T actually runs a little cooler than the [stock] i7 2600 using stock coolers only (the stock for the 1090T is a big massive looking thing compaired to that puny Intel one), strange I know considering the i7 CPU itself is quite superior and more efficient than the 1090T. I know this because I've had both. My rig now has the i7 2600. For such a fantastic processor, I can't believe thats the heatsink/cooler that Intel made for it (I guess they just assumed most folks get an aftermarket one).

After adding the new PSU and 6950 to my old XPS the idle temps for the 1090T were about 23-27C and would it hit 40-45C under load playing Crysis 2 (it ran it on max settings w/ 50-60 FPS). I never saw it hit 50C and I would have all kinds of things running in the background while playing. My i7 2600 usually idles around 30-35C (Core Temp shows it at 29C right now), and will hit 48-50C under load playing BF3 and a couple of other programs like iTunes running.

I think you should try upgrading your PSU, then get the card you want. I'll bet your temps stay within safe parameters. If not, add the fan like you talked about, and consider an aftermarket cooler for the i7 2600.

+1 for no need to replace case (just double check the card length is OK)

Hapkiman: not sure you needed to upgrade the 460w PSU: "..I removed the 460 watt PSU and replaced it with a Corsair TX 650 watt..." My I7-920 / GTX260 raid drivers, etc. is consistently below 300 watts measured at the wall. Your 6950 has a tdp of 200 watts, gtx260 tdp = 202 for my 65 nm version, so doubt you are drawing more than 300w at the wall either unless you upped voltage and OC like crazy. (I have mild OC on video). 300 watts at the wall on a 90% efficient power supply is only 270w from the 460w PSU. Right in the middle of the efficient range.

I use to measure will a kill-a-watt meter, $15 at amazon. Now I read it off the panel on my UPS (apc backups, not purre sine wave, but works fine with teh HP 460w PSU in my system). Both read the same wattage.

Do you guys know from experience a good CPU cooler that will fit in my case? It's pretty small.

EDIT: Sorry for being a little noobish but I'm also wondering about either adding another case fan or even swapping cases if I decide to, I don't seem to be able to plug in more fans in? Can they be powered straight from the power supply? I have my back case fan in Sys_fan 1 and I don't even see a Sys_fan 2 plug. I see Sys_fan 3 and 4 labeled on the mobo but there's not a plug there.

So if I buy a new fan or even a case with like 3 or 4 fans, can I power them on my mobo?

Relax, buy a new gpu and enjoy gaming. That's a sweet little unit and I recommend them to people who don't want to build and fuss with their own. Temps are not out of line...at worst the fan's may get loud, but on the basis of observing my wife's machine (she plays WoW and Skyrim) its actually pretty quiet.